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INSIDE: MORE ON 1969 ALLEN BUILDING TAKEOVER
The Chronicle
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13. 1989 E
DUKE UNIVERSITY DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
CIRCULATION: 15.000 VOL. 84. NO. 94
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE/ UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
After AAS members left Allen Building in 1969, Durham police confronted about 1,500 observers on the quad with teargas.
Taking over
Twenty years ago, blacks occupied Allen, police responded with teargas
By MALKIA LYDIA
History often concerns other people,
other places, other events. But 20 years
ago this morning dramatic black history
was made at the University, in a confrontation between desperate black students
and an administration they perceived to
have stagnated on the race issue.
On Thursday, Feb. 13, 1969, members
of Duke's Afro-American Society (AAS) occupied Allen Building to bring attention
to its 11 unmet demands of the administration. At 9 a.m., the 75 students issued
a final list of 13 demands.
An initial 11 demands had appeared in
the first issue of Harambee, the AAS
newspaper, just days before the student's
actions of the 13th. This first issue coincided with the conclusion of Black Week,
a celebration of black culture that brought
figures such as Fannie Lou Hamer and
Dick Gregory to campus.
The demands stemmed from the blacks'
intense dissatisfaction with the racial environment on campus, which had been integrated only six years earlier. Though
"under the Knight administration [1963- Archives by current law student Don Yan-
19691, Duke eradicated many of the legal nella.
and technical buttresses of prejudice, . . Yannella stated that during the '60s,
most black students and professors felt the black student population at Duke
that the social dynamics of racism remained under 2 percent; only two black
remained solidly entrenched," according professors were on the faculty, and no
to an unpublished paper in the University See HISTORY on page 8 ►
Former students recall occupation of building
Weather
Call me Crazy: But it's only one day
before Valentine's, so take the advent
of today's not-so-hot weather to tell the
one you love exactly that. Temperatures will hit the 40s with clouds.
By ED BOYLE
When black students occupied Allen
Building 20 years ago, ASDU President
Wade Norris was meeting with concerned
students, faculty and school officials
about what course of action to take.
"President [Douglas] Knight was out of
town. We were trying to open up some
kind of dialogue with the students who
were inside," Norris, now an attorney,
said in a recent telephone interview.
"Then we found out there was already
some action taken that was mapped out in
advance: bringing in the police."
Norris said he heard the Board of
Trustees had made a riot control agreement with state and county governments
mandating early police action as a
preventative measure.
As Durham County squad cars rushed
up Chapel Drive toward the bus circle, the
protesters left Allen Building. Tension
was in the air, and a confrontation
seemed imminent.
"The police were there with all their
riot gear on. It looked like something out
of the 21st century. People at Duke had
never seen anything like that before,"
Norris said.
"If anything would have been a greater
magnet for the anger and aggression of
the students, they would have needed big
neon signs saying, 'We're the enemy.' "
About 1,000 people had gathered near
Allen Building by that point, some to
prevent the police from harassing the
blacks, others simply to observe.
"Sooner or later they began to throw
some things," Norris said. "I heard one officer was hit on the head with a brick, and
then the tear gas battle began . . . Finally
[then assistant dean for Arts and Sciences! Bill Griffith got through to the Durham authorities to get the police to just go
inside the Allen Building."
Immediately afterwards, an outraged
student activist present at the riot, Bob
Creamer, told a Raleigh News & Observer
reporter that there were plans "to call for
Dr. Knight's resignation as president"
and for a retaliatory "full-scale student
strike."
Twenty years later, Creamer, now ex-
See STUDENTS on page 9 ►

INSIDE: MORE ON 1969 ALLEN BUILDING TAKEOVER
The Chronicle
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13. 1989 E
DUKE UNIVERSITY DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
CIRCULATION: 15.000 VOL. 84. NO. 94
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE/ UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
After AAS members left Allen Building in 1969, Durham police confronted about 1,500 observers on the quad with teargas.
Taking over
Twenty years ago, blacks occupied Allen, police responded with teargas
By MALKIA LYDIA
History often concerns other people,
other places, other events. But 20 years
ago this morning dramatic black history
was made at the University, in a confrontation between desperate black students
and an administration they perceived to
have stagnated on the race issue.
On Thursday, Feb. 13, 1969, members
of Duke's Afro-American Society (AAS) occupied Allen Building to bring attention
to its 11 unmet demands of the administration. At 9 a.m., the 75 students issued
a final list of 13 demands.
An initial 11 demands had appeared in
the first issue of Harambee, the AAS
newspaper, just days before the student's
actions of the 13th. This first issue coincided with the conclusion of Black Week,
a celebration of black culture that brought
figures such as Fannie Lou Hamer and
Dick Gregory to campus.
The demands stemmed from the blacks'
intense dissatisfaction with the racial environment on campus, which had been integrated only six years earlier. Though
"under the Knight administration [1963- Archives by current law student Don Yan-
19691, Duke eradicated many of the legal nella.
and technical buttresses of prejudice, . . Yannella stated that during the '60s,
most black students and professors felt the black student population at Duke
that the social dynamics of racism remained under 2 percent; only two black
remained solidly entrenched," according professors were on the faculty, and no
to an unpublished paper in the University See HISTORY on page 8 ►
Former students recall occupation of building
Weather
Call me Crazy: But it's only one day
before Valentine's, so take the advent
of today's not-so-hot weather to tell the
one you love exactly that. Temperatures will hit the 40s with clouds.
By ED BOYLE
When black students occupied Allen
Building 20 years ago, ASDU President
Wade Norris was meeting with concerned
students, faculty and school officials
about what course of action to take.
"President [Douglas] Knight was out of
town. We were trying to open up some
kind of dialogue with the students who
were inside," Norris, now an attorney,
said in a recent telephone interview.
"Then we found out there was already
some action taken that was mapped out in
advance: bringing in the police."
Norris said he heard the Board of
Trustees had made a riot control agreement with state and county governments
mandating early police action as a
preventative measure.
As Durham County squad cars rushed
up Chapel Drive toward the bus circle, the
protesters left Allen Building. Tension
was in the air, and a confrontation
seemed imminent.
"The police were there with all their
riot gear on. It looked like something out
of the 21st century. People at Duke had
never seen anything like that before,"
Norris said.
"If anything would have been a greater
magnet for the anger and aggression of
the students, they would have needed big
neon signs saying, 'We're the enemy.' "
About 1,000 people had gathered near
Allen Building by that point, some to
prevent the police from harassing the
blacks, others simply to observe.
"Sooner or later they began to throw
some things," Norris said. "I heard one officer was hit on the head with a brick, and
then the tear gas battle began . . . Finally
[then assistant dean for Arts and Sciences! Bill Griffith got through to the Durham authorities to get the police to just go
inside the Allen Building."
Immediately afterwards, an outraged
student activist present at the riot, Bob
Creamer, told a Raleigh News & Observer
reporter that there were plans "to call for
Dr. Knight's resignation as president"
and for a retaliatory "full-scale student
strike."
Twenty years later, Creamer, now ex-
See STUDENTS on page 9 ►